“There is one thing more,” she went on. “Believe me, I am not approaching this in the same spirit as my father, but if by any chance you found yourself able to do anything for Jack—in the shape of employment, I mean—it would be so good for him and such a relief to me.”
“I shall be going to America very shortly,” Jacob reflected, “in which case I shall need some one to help me with my correspondence. Dauncey will have to stay at home to look after my interests here.”
“That would be wonderful,” she declared enthusiastically. “Jack really isn’t a fool—in fact he is quite clever in some things—but he does need steadying down, and I’m so afraid that if nothing happens he will drift into taking life as casually as—as—”
“I understand,” Jacob interrupted. “Leave it to me, Lady Mary. Something shall be done, I promise you.”
The motor horn was sounding and they turned back. Jacob, notwithstanding the disgraceful treatment which he had received, was conscious of a curious unwillingness to take his place in the car and leave Kelsoton Castle behind him.
“You must let me know,” his companion begged softly, “how things go on with you and Miss Bultiwell.”
“There will never be anything to tell you,” he assured her. “I am becoming quite confident about that.”
She smiled at him enigmatically. Her footsteps, too, were lagging.
“Our love affairs don’t seem to be prospering, do they?” she sighed.